Creating a G3 SVG Character in Illustrator | Cartoon Animator 5 Tutorial

[@Michael_Lak]

Phew. A simple and clear explanation.

[@paullee1792]

Thanks for showing the nice tutorial.

[@GarryPye]

And thank YOU for the nice comment!

[@midnightmike44]

Ive been waiting for this video!....great job!

[@RomansEtianen]

Where do i find the CTA5 Vectror Template Whitepaper the docs file. I downloaded the zip file but cannot find it. Can you add a link in the video description

[@reallusion]

Hi @RomansEtianen, For the complete process, visit: wiki.reallusion.com/Content_Dev:CTA5_G3_SVG_Character_Creation

[@ramonicfilm]

what about 360 * body rotate? :I

[@mrrix7989]

do I have to create forearm and shins ? what if I only have the wrist and full arm ? does that work? and if it does, should I leave the forearm layer empty and hide it ? Thanks!

[@IslamShehata]

great tutorial thank you , i want to ask if my character design doesnt match this template what to do ?

[@reallusion]

Hi @IslamShehata, We are not sure what type of character structure you are referring to. Please reply to confirm. If a human form, we suggest aligning with our standard character structure to access comprehensive functionalities. If you are referring to a non-human character, you can watch this process on creating a character with a free bone structure: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pGbWgqN3rbaYfac.

[@jancarsonweatherby1579]

:45 "you'll find multiple templates..." true... BUT, not all of the templates... for instance I just want "HUMAN MOTION BONE S" template... the rudimentary side facing template found under CONTENT>TEMPLATE>HUMAN>2_G3 HUMAN folder inside CTA5. There doesn't seem to be a way to send this template to Illustrator.

[@BREAKINGNEWtoday6]

Please help me, 1 week, i don't import SVG for Cartoon Animal 5, Template dowload for freepik, I learning tutorial but not import succes.

[@reallusion]

Hi @HeartfeltQuotes_87, Basically CTA are fully tested for Adobe Illustrator vector workflow. Other tools have not been thoroughly tested and may generate incompatible SVG files. Known limitations are listed in the following link: forum.reallusion.com/526667/CTA5-Known-Issue-Workarounds You can also use the online Photopea tool to convert your file, export it as SVG again, and then try importing it into CTA. For further inquiries, contact Reallusion customer support: www.reallusion.com/CustomerSupport/UserEx/QForm.html

[@OriginalSimulacrum]

What (or where) is this mythical 'white paper' you mentioned?

[@GeanImation]

You have to type it out from looking at the address in this video. Nice eh

[@JaiBJungle]

I keep getting this Problem when importing a custom character and there keeps being errors

[@Xclusivedropx]

do you have a tutorial on how to prepare a character to fit that svg template?

[@GarryPye]

I do! In the Reallusion KZbin channel playlist, there is a video called "Bring Life! How to Design and Rig a Cartoon Animation 5 G3 Actor!". That is a one hour webinar where I demonstrate how to build custom actors for CTA5. Plus there is a free written tutorial by me in the description. Good luck!

[@jcehlert]

It occurs to me that we can make our own characters using just your templates. We could modify the various components to fit our needs and easily rig in CTA5.

[@JaiBJungle]

how do you do that with PSD characters

[@junaidghanikhan]

What about the side face character? This dummy model is for front face character

[@reallusion]

Hi @junaidghanikhan, The free download includes materials from multiple angles. The video uses the front view as an example, but the process is the same for all angles. Also, you can check CTA contents made with side faces. www.reallusion.com/ContentStore/CTA/Pack/G3-360-Character-Campus-Hero/default.html www.reallusion.com/ContentStore/CTA/Pack/G3-360-Character-VectorBuddies/default.html

[@angelicafoster670]

Thanks for the tutorial, I'd love to see how do we "draw" these characters. i wish to see a tutorial on how to "trace" a reference , draw it, and color it , then rig it.

[@rockpig4032]

You seem to want an Adobe tutorial, not Reallusion.

[@angelicafoster670]

@@rockpig4032 you are right, i need to create original vector characters.

[@ikigai47]

Wait. Why do you need to export a CTA5 character into Illustrator, edit it, then bring it back to CTA5? It was a CTA5 character to begin with right? I thought those unfortunate looking characters were all set to go out of the box?

[@GarryPye]

Yes, the character shown here, while not unfortunate in any way, is all set to go out of the box. This video demonstrates how you can make adjustments to the existing character in order to create your own custom characters. Now that youve had time to think about it, was the insult really even necessary?

[@ikigai47]

@@GarryPye - Who am I "insulting" exactly? Animated characters? I guess you're the one that designed these characters? If so don't take it personal, you're an amazing artist obviously and an asset to the animation community. The reason I consider them "unfortunate" looking is because they're so unique, you immediately know it's training wheels software designed for beginners to animate since these characters are all over KZbin. At least if they were a little more generic looking it wouldn't be so obvious. It's discouraging to make original content, that screams "I'm using pre-made templates you've seen on KZbin 1000 times because I'm not talented yet so I use cheater software to make up for it." For that reason I find it unusable, but that's fine, it just makes me work harder to up my skills so I can animate with the big boys one day. It's just one man's opinion with no offense meant to your skills. I will be more careful in how I word things in the future. Happy holidays!

[@GarryPye]

My bad. I misunderstood you referring to these characters as "unfortunate looking" as being an insult. I didnt take it personally. I just didnt feel it was very complimentary to someones hard work. By the way, you guessed incorrectly when you assumed I drew these. I did not. They are not my designs. You assume that the software is "training wheels" because you dont like the look of the character? Seems a bit of a weird assumption. Especially considering there are thousands of characters available and you can even create your own original actors. I hope you'll excuse me if I find that comment insulting as well. Im sure it wasnt meant to be. Then you suggested the person who would use this character is "not talented". Probably not meant as an insult again. We'll leave that one for now. Then you refer to Cartoon Animator as "Cheater software". Is it okay that now I assume you are in fact deliberately being insulting? When you say "No offence meant", I kinda think you do. Especially how many times youve done it. But when you say you should "be more careful in how I word things in the future", on that, we agree.

[@ikigai47]

@@GarryPye - Man, I just can't say anything right. Yes, learning to use template characters in this software is 100x easier than being an animator from scratch. So much of the work is already done for you. I'm not sure why that's hard to understand but I am sure, if I attempt to explain it further, you will take offense so I won't even try. You have very thin skin. Good day sir

[@GarryPye]

So you threw out a few insults and didnt figure someone would hold you to account, so now you side step. Wouldve been easier to just correct yourself instead of playing the victim. And I will have a good day. Thank you.

[@JaiBJungle]

do you have to do the mouths

[@GarryPye]

If you create your own custom actors, then yes they will require custom mouth sprites for speech and emotions

[@JaiBJungle]

@@GarryPye but i'd like to do the mouths separately

[@GarryPye]

Yes, thats what you need to do. You need to create all your own mouth sprites separately and then add them to your custom character? Or do you mean something else? @@JaiBJungle

[@Bi0Dr01d]

A problem with the template is that you have to move the body parts toward the bones rather than placing the bones over the body parts. Is this counterintuitive, But every time you create a character using that template, all of your characters will look the same because they will have the exact same scaling For each body part. For example, what if you don't want a character with the head scaled too much like the one in the template? You're out of luck. All the character heads have to be scaled the same way so that they will work in cartoon animator, because if you need to move the bones From where they are positioned, Cartoon animator gives you an error and does not allow the import. That really is an issue that should probably be fixed. People should be able to move the bones where they should go on the character limbs In their given vector editor. Otherwise, A user is forced to create a character under a specific style only.

[@GarryPye]

This is not the case at all. You can set your bone pivot points to be anywhere on your character that you want them. The only issue is that moving the bones TOO far will result in unwanted motion if premade motions are applied. If however, your goal is to keyframe, then you can have your bone set up any way you want.

[@Bi0Dr01d]

@@GarryPye Well, I'm glad it works for you, but it's not working for me. Whenever I move the bones at all, and I poured over my character into Cartoon Animator, I get an error message and the bone will not port over. I don't even have the privilege of having "unwanted motion". The bone doesn't carry over at all. This is probably because I'm using Affinity Designer rather than Photoshop, or something 🤷. I noticed that I can move the bone points in Affinity Designer if I am making a raster character, but if I am making a vector character, then I cannot bring that bone data into cartoon animator. I don't know why. Can you confirm this works for vector characters for you when you do it? If so, are you using Affinity Designer or a different vector software? If it does work for you, then I'll know that this is a unique problem for me that I don't know how to fix.

[@Xclusivedropx]

I agree %100.. wish I wasn't limited to this exact style, do you know of any programs that will allow you to do this? I do like how simple CTA5 is, very easy to pick up and start something.

[@GarryPye]

How do you mean you limited to this exact style? Style of what? If you mean style of character, in CTA you can import all your own artwork, so there are no limitations. If you mean style of bone configuration, in CTA you can reposition bones ot be absolutely anywahere, so there are no limitations there either. @@Xclusivedropx

[@Bi0Dr01d]

@@GarryPye A problem with the template is that you have to move the body parts toward the bones rather than placing the bones over the body parts. Is this counterintuitive, But every time you create a character using that template, all of your characters will look the same because they will have the exact same scaling For each body part. For example, what if you don't want a character with the head scaled too much like the one in the template? You're out of luck. All the character heads have to be scaled the same way so that they will work in cartoon animator, because if you need to move the bones From where they are positioned, Cartoon animator gives you an error and does not allow the import. That really is an issue that should probably be fixed. People should be able to move the bones where they should go on the character limbs In their given vector editor. Otherwise, A user is forced to create a character under a specific style only. I know that CA 5 allows you to rearrange the bones, but they do not have a snapping feature to snap the bones at the joints of the characters. You have to try your best to manually put them in the right place, which can at times cause the rotation of the joints to be "off". Cartoon animator 5 needs to fix this but either allowing there to be a snapping feature to snap the bones at the joint locations, or allow you to move the bones within the vector art software. This is still a problem that needs to be fixed, and is too tedious to do it manually and slowly because there is no snapping feature.

[@samuraisaint2360]

Is $100 worth it in your opinion to outsource someone to setup a picture for animation to use in Cartoon animator 5 ?

[@visualvincent]

It should be considered whether it saves your time.

[@EvokAi]

This is so trabajoso

[@Akilesalan]

Be careful with this program, it installs malware, realusion, which does not leave the PC and does not appear in programs to uninstall, it only leaves if you restore the PC to a previous point

[@reallusion]

Hi Thank you for your feedback. We assure you that all of our software can be uninstalled through standard procedures. If you're encountering any issues or have concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our customer support team. We’re here to assist you! www.reallusion.com/FeedBackTracker/

[@GarryPye]

Ive been working with this software since version 1 and never had a single issue. I have uninstalled it on occasions when i have needed to. Your accusation is entirely false.

[@unboxingpandanabila3127]

Part by part not good.

[@GarryPye]

Whys that? Ive been doing it this way for years and it works fine. And fast.